← Sleep Tight Stories - Bedtime Stories for Kids
Sleep Tight Stories - Bedtime Stories for Kids
Margaret and The Secret Soft Tree P.2 🧚✨ (Magical encore)
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A Short Message for Grown Ups the new season of mysteries about true histories is here. Max and Molly are back facing off against the Power hungry Pogs, a group determined to rewrite history. With help from Aunt Em and a few surprise guests, they'll travel from Ancient Egypt to 1875 to stop them, using math, history, and a whole lot of teamwork. Listen now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi friends. This summer on sleept Stories, we're bringing you something special. A series of short stories made just for summer. Perfect for bedtime road trips or whenever you need a cozy break from the day's adventures. We'd love your help. The series launches in July, so if you have an idea for a story, now's the time to share it. Just reach out to Cheryl or Clark using the email in our show notes, and if we use your idea, we'll give you a special shout out in the episode. Thanks for listening. Hello friends, and welcome to sleept Stories. Margaret is a sweet girl who always does what she is told. When she turns 8, she cannot wait to finally get to go to her friend Mary's house by herself. On the way, a twig gets caught in her wheelchair tire and she falls over trying to stop herself by pushing on a tree. But the tree is not hard like she expected and she gets sucked into a whole other world. Margaret and the Secret soft Tree Part 2 Tell me everything, Margaret said to Eloise. There's no way to tell you everything, smiled Eloise. She held on to Margaret's sleeve. Now, would you like to fly? Before Margaret could answer, her feet started to leave the ground. Margaret looked down at the white trees getting smaller and smaller against the fluffy pink of the ground, and the smile on her face grew bigger and bigger. The clouds in the purple sky were all different shades of the rainbow, and they tasted like cotton candy, just like she always imagined clouds would taste. When she woke up this morning, she couldn't walk, and now she was flying. This was the best birthday ever. The other fairies heard that the human fairy princess had arrived, and while Eloise had her out for her flying lesson above Gardenia, they were busy putting together a party. And as anyone who knows anything about fairies knows, fairies need hardly any excuse at all to throw a party. To keep Margaret from seeing what they were up to, a fairy named Ruby draped an invisibility cloth over the section of the forest where the party would take place. There were sugar plum cupcakes being baked, dewdrop tea was being brewed, and the younger fairies were Sowing a crown of daisies for the guest of honor. News was spreading across Gardenia that the chosen human had arrived, and they were all excited to catch a glimpse of her. See, only the oldest fairies were allowed to go through the secret cell tree into the human world, so most never got to see a people person. Eloise took Margaret around to see lots of different fairies at work. She saw sewing fairies with tiny measuring tapes around their necks, stitching up wounded dragonflies and patching up spiderwebs. She saw nurse fairies tending to sick fairy children, and crafty fairies were painting butterfly wings and cutting out snowflakes. Every time they met someone new, the fairy would bow to Margaret and tell her that it was an honor to meet her. Margaret was having so much fun that she started to forget about home. But Margaret's home certainly hadn't forgotten about her. Back at Margaret's house, Margaret's mom and dad were washing up the dishes and wondering if Margaret was having fun at Mary's house. Should we have let her go by herself? Brian? Said Margaret's mom, with that worried look on her face that makes Mother's foreheads wrinkle up. We have to let her go sooner or later, he replied, But I think I'm going to make sure she got over there okay. I'm going to take Buster for a walk and see if I can spot her. Margaret's dad put a leash on their golden retriever and started out down the path. Margaret and Eloise were watching a Fix it fairy replace some scales on a rainbow trout. When a young fairy appeared and told Eloise she was needed in the forest. Margaret was excited to see the fairy forest. Without even thinking, she jumped up in the air and started to fly. Until now, the only way she could fly was with Eloise's help. The fairies cheered because Margaret's magic was starting to settle in. Margaret smiled bigger than she'd ever smiled before, and they all flew off towards the forest with a tinkling sound and a puff of fairy dust. When Margaret and Eloise got to the clearing in the fairy forest, there were flowers everywhere. They were sewn into garlands of all sizes. There were rose petals all over the ground. Music was playing and fairies were dancing. It was a party. Happy birthday, Princess. Long live Margaret of Gardenia. Sang hundreds of fairies in unison. Margaret felt like a giant in this fairy world, but she also felt like a true princess, especially when the young fairies flew up and placed a crown of daisies on her head. The breeze from their flapping wings made her eyelashes flutter. Margaret's dad started along the path he'd cleared through the woods for Margaret. Buster began to bark and he began to run down the path ahead of Margaret's dad. Buster, slow down. Buster was following Margaret's scent right to the secret soft tree. As the fairy musicians entertained with a lively Celtic reel, Margaret clapped and danced and feasted on sugar plum cupcakes and cups of dew drop tea. Margaret was just getting the hang of dancing a jig with her new feet when suddenly the music stopped. A silence fell over Gardenia as if a great cloak of quiet had been draped over the land. It was the same deep silence Margaret heard or hadn't heard when she first fell through the tree. A flash of blue light whizzed past overhead, and then a quite anxious fairy appeared, shouting, something's approaching. All fairies. Silent fairies rushed to fasten the invisibility tarp back over the party. Since there was no way to hide Margaret with her great size, the fairies and Margaret all froze. The only sound to be heard was coming from the secret soft tree. It sounded familiar to Margaret. Buster's nose sniffed around the stump of the secret soft tree. The dog smelled something very familiar. The fairies all had their eyes fixed to the inside door of the secret soft tree. They watched as, bit by bit, a dog's nose started to appear. Margaret remembered where she really was. In her backyard. That nose belonged to Buster. Suddenly, the queen appeared. The dog can't enter Gardenia, she said. There's a human with him. The queen put both of her hands up in front of her with her palms facing the place where Buster's nose was poking through the secret soft tree. She closed her eyes and Margaret and the fairies watched in wonder as the place where the world of Gardenia seemed to end in a wall of pink and lavender became translucent. The image looked rippled at first, like waves of water were covering the scene. Margaret? Margaret, are you in there? Margaret's eyes opened wide. Whose voice was that? It didn't sound like anyone she knew. As Margaret stared at the tree, fixed on the sound of the unfamiliar voice, the image in front of the queen appeared visible. Margaret could see the path that led through the trees to Mary's house. Buster was sniffing around the trunk of the tree. I smell you, Margaret. I smell you. Margaret realized then that she was hearing Buster's thoughts. Eloise appeared in a streak of blue light. We have to mask your smell. She opened a bag of fairy dust and puffed it into Margaret's face. Buster lost Margaret's scent and they watched him head back down the path towards Margaret's dad. Margaret, overwhelmed with what had just happened, started to feel sleepy. Very sleepy. Oh no. I was worried that might be too much fairy dust for a human. Squealed Eloise as Margaret's eyes closed and she fell to her knees and down onto the fluffy pink ground. Buster, what made you run off there? Did you smell another dog? Margaret's dad picked Buster's leash up off the ground and patted the dog's head. Then he saw the scariest thing a father could see. Margaret's wheelchair was tipped against the tree. His daughter slumped down on the ground beside it. Margaret's dad ran to her. Margaret. Margaret, wake up. Can you hear me? Her eyes started to open. Eloise, she said. Oh, thank goodness, said her dad. What happened? You must have fallen and hit your head. Daddy, said Margaret. She looked around and saw that the sky was boring old blue, the ground was brown, and there was her wheelchair. When she tried to lift herself up, her legs didn't work. Margaret's dad carried her into their house. What happened? Asked her mother, running to open the door. Oh, Margaret, are you okay? She's fine, said Margaret's dad. A twig got stuck in her wheel and she bumped her head on a tree. It couldn't have been a dream, thought Margaret to herself. It was so real. She rubbed her head, hoping she wouldn't feel anything, hoping that this perfect world wasn't all in her imagination. But there it was, a large bump on her head where she fell into the tree. After Margaret had rested for an hour and her parents were sure she was okay, Margaret's dad fixed up her wheelchair, took her back outside, and helped her across the path to Mary's house. Mary and Margaret played for the rest of the day, but playing dolls and making puzzles wasn't much fun compared to painting butterflies and cutting out snowflakes. Cookies and milk weren't quite as tasty as dew drop tea and sugar plum cup. Later that evening, when Margaret was in bed reading and daydreaming about what it felt like to be a princess who could fly among fairies, her mother came into her room to say good night. I'm sorry you didn't get to go to Mary's by yourself today, said Margaret's mother as she sorted the laundry to be washed. I know you were hoping to have an adventure on your first day as an eight year old. She checked the pockets on a pair of Margaret's pants and pulled out a tiny silver object the size of a pair of nail clippers. Oh, Margaret, what have I told you about cleaning out your pockets. This little toy could have gone through the washing machine. Margaret reached over and picked up the tiny silver wand from her mother's hand. She held it in her hand and smiled. And that is the end of our story. Good night. Sleep tight.